Ransomware Hackers Hit Law Firm, Demand Bitcoin, Get Paid

In case you thought data security for your law firm was a fringe issue, a Florida law firm just paid hackers $2,500 in Bitcoin to ransom back their data. The hackers managed to hold all the law firm’s data hostage, and demanded the Bitcoin (Bitcoins?) in exchange for the key to get it all back.

The office manager described what happened this way:

“Everything we do is scanned. Even our Word documents are converted to pdf’s. They (the hackers) somehow got onto our server and decrypted all of our files,” she said. “They were useless. Nothing was compromised. We just couldn’t get to it.”

Your law firm runs on data: client files, memos, client information, research, etc. Most of that data is confidential. Keeping that data safe and secure should be one of your top priorities as a lawyer.